I've had him for 8 months now, and prior to me rescuing him, he spent his life as an aviary breeder in FL. At some point in his past, he was attacked by a raccoon and lost a leg because of it. His remaining leg has nerve entrapment and it's locked at a 90 degree angle and he has no function of his small back toe.
Thank you very much for the informative post. I've gone through just about every internet article concerning the Vasa, I've contacted Kim and two other Vasa owners, but the search is still on.Dont give up searching. Have you tried to connect with any of the Vasa people on youtube?
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vasa+parrot
Some of the clips are pretty old; some not so old. But getting in contact with anyone, might lead to contact with other people. Even a decent breeder (unlike the ass you rescued your bird from), who might have good information. It's no more random connecting with people from there, as it is from here. At least you can see how they take care of their birds.
I understand a bit of what you're going through. I have Bourke's parrots, and they are different enough , even from the other Australian parrots, to warrant some special understanding apart from the other parrots. It can get frustrating when the good advice isn't a good fit to your kind of bird , but keep posting about him. Eventually, someone will see you them, and feel comfortable enough to connect. And then you can build from there. I eventually asked the mods for a separate thread for Bourke's. You should have a separate one for Vasas.
And since you are a new parrot owner, please keep reading, despite the frustration with most everything geared toward the bigger, more commonly owned parrots. The Vasa is still a parrot, and while its behavior and food, etc, may differ, they are mostly more alike than different, and you can pick up some good info.
Ultimately though, its up to you to do the research on Vasas. You can look up information on them in veterinary medical and university research journal articles, and in journals and sites regarding Madagascan fauna (and flora helps, too).
It's good that their hemipenis was pointed out by a previous poster because you dont want to think something is wrong with them when that happens ( https://www.google.com/search?q=vas...yt7eAhVF5IMKHYGWAUIQ_AUIDigB&biw=1277&bih=653 ). You're going to have to read up yourself and bring your knowledge to the avian vets you go to, most likely, because these arent the most common parrots that they're used to seeing. They can crack open their vet books and read up, too, and give you information, also.
With regard to youtube, you have to be judicious about the info you get from anyone on there. A lot of Bourke's owners that seemed wholly competent bird owners, still had some wrong information about Bourke's parrots. You can be swayed by people saying things as fact, when they are not fact, at all; just anecdote, or bad info that they were told and then passed on as fact.
Please keep posting about your Vasa! After seeing how damn cute they are in those youtuber's clips, I have added them to my list of birds I want to eventually adopt; right along with a Pionus, if possible.
They are adorable, and make the most adorable sounds! Im in love :smile015:
Good luck!
Yeah, I get the feeling the breeder hasn't been completely honest with me about Java's background since I was able to track his original breeder, and since a lot of the information regarding the attack doesn't add up, I've stopped keeping in touch with the breeder I got him from. It's been well over four months since I last contacted her, and even when I did, asking about Java's history, she would ignore my texts.
I have no knowledge of how long he's been without the leg or whether the raccoon made it into the aviary or simply reached through the bars. Knowing how skittish Java is, I can assume the animal made its way into the aviary. Unfortunately, because of the negligence, Java lost a leg and his remaining leg is very damaged. Essentially, he's a sitting duck, and struggles to get around. He also wasn't allowed to fledge so he has no clue how to fly without slamming into what's in front of him.
We've made a lot of progress thus far, and even if he never gains mobility, he'll always have me.
